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Move Current Hard Drive to a New Windows XP System

This article examines moving the hard drive(s) from a system that has Windows XP installed to a new system. There is no method that can guarantee a 100% success rate, but careful attention to the items discussed will at least give you better odds of a successful hard drive move while preserving your current XP installation. As with any procedure you attempt there are caveats. Let's look at three that apply to this procedure.

If you are contemplating moving the hard drive from an OEM system this procedure is likely going to fail. Why? Part of this procedure involves doing a Repair Installation of Windows XP. To perform a Repair Installation it's necessary to have a Microsoft supplied bootable XP Installation CD; not one of the Recovery CD's or a system where the operating system installation files are stored in an image or on a hidden partition on the hard drive like many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) supply.

Backing up the system before undertaking the move is essential. I'm not going to spend time here going over the different possibilities for backing up the system. The important part is that you have a backup of all critical data that you absolutely cannot afford to lose - and - that the data backup be available in a format that is compatible with Windows XP so it can be restored after the procedure is completed if something does go wrong.

Anytime substantial hardware changes are made to the system there is a possibility that XP will have to be reactivated. I'll discuss this at the end of the article, but as a hedge against possibly having to call Microsoft to reactivate, look at the article Activation Workaround for Windows XP.

Moving the Hard Drive(s)

While the current system is still running, visit the website of the system motherboard manufacturer and download the current RAID and SCSI drivers for the system in case you need them along with the most recent BIOS update. Follow the manufacturer instructions and place these files on floppy disks so they will be available during the repair installation phase of the procedure. After the necessary floppies have been created, insert the Windows XP CD in the CD drive of the machine where the hard drive is being moved, close the window that opens if the auto-start function is enabled and shut down the computer using standard procedures. This leaves the XP installation CD in the drive so it will be ready for use after the hard drive is moved.

Entire books have been written about PC hardware and how to swap components so I'm just going to touch on the highlights of swapping out the hard drive. If you need more detailed instructions a Google search will yield hundreds of sites that go into excruciating detail.

While changing the hard drive you might be tempted to make a few other changes to the system such as rearranging the hard drives or switching the IDE channel the CD drive is attached to. Resist temptation and leave things exactly as they were until you complete the procedure successfully.

The biggest danger when working on a computer is static electricity. Purchase an ant-static wristband or at the least make sure you touch bare metal on the case frequently to reduce the possibility of static electricity damage.
Unplug the power cable and all other cables on the back of the box and remove the system cover.
Make a diagram of how the current drive or drives to be moved are cabled and connected to the system. It's important this layout be duplicated in the new system.
Remove the drive(s) and move it into the new system, making sure it's securely positioned and fastened with the screws.
Reattach the cabling and power connectors to the drive(s) according to the diagram prepared earlier. Again, it's essential they match the layout in the old system.
Replace the cover and reattach all the cables and the power connector.

Preparing to Restart the Computer

Please -- do yourself a favor and do not skip over this section. Understand the procedures listed here before you turn on the power to restart the machine.

Now that the hard drive has been replaced it's time to power on the machine. Rather than let the machine go through the entire boot process, you want to enter the BIOS setup screen and make some changes. How you enter the BIOS setup depends on the motherboard, but the manual should give specific instructions for the procedure. The most common method is to power on the machine and then repeatedly tap the Delete key until you see BIOS setup appear. Most systems contain a message on the boot screen that also explains how to enter BIOS setup. If all else fails, read the manual.

If you miss getting into the BIOS it's important not to let the system continue booting into XP at this point, assuming it would even do so if allowed to continue, which it probably wouldn't. Either use a quick Ctrl+Alt+Del keystroke sequence to restart the boot process and try again, or power off the system quickly. Either way it shouldn't do any damage to the system. Just try again until you get into the BIOS setup utility. Once you are in there are certain items to set and verify.

Make sure the system date and time are set correctly.
Ensure the settings for the CPU are set correctly if the board doesn't use an automatic detection scheme.
Verify the hard drive detection settings. Again, most boards do this automatically so ensure that AutoDetect or something similar is selected.
Finally, make sure the boot sequence or boot order of the system is set so the CD ROM drive is the first place the system will look for the operating system when booting. Most systems and boards are set to look at drive C: first and this is what you want to avoid. Once you find the settings there will likely be many choices available by using a combination of the arrow and PageUp/PageDown keys. Select an option that looks similar to [CD ROM/C/A] which would set the boot order for the CD ROM first, drive C: second, followed by drive A, the floppy.

Once the settings are configured, exit the BIOS Setup Utility making sure to select an option to save the settings that were just configured. Many boards use a specific F key to accomplish this task, asking you to verify that you wish to save the current settings. Once the setting changes are confirmed the system normally initiates a system restart.

Restarting the Computer

If you remember, the XP installation CD was moved to the CD drive of the new system before you started to replace the hard drive. As the boot sequence continues, watch the screen for a message to appear that the system is looking for a bootable CD ROM. Watch the monitor for the message that the CD has been auto-detected, followed by the “Press any key to boot CD” message. Don’t fall for the old joke about looking for the “Any” key. Just hit the spacebar or any other key that’s convenient within the five second time span the message will be displayed. The screen shown in Figure 01 will appear while Windows inspects the hardware configuration.

Fig. 01

Once the inspection is complete, files will start to load from the CD to begin the installation. Eventually the screen shown in Figure 02 will be displayed offering three options. This is the point where the majority of confusion occurs about repairing a current installation. The second option asks if you want to repair an XP installation using Recovery Console. In some situations this may be the desired course of action, but in this case we want to repair XP without using Recovery Console. Rather than the second option, select the first option to set up Windows by pressing Enter.

Fig. 02

More files will load from the CD until you are taken to the screen shown in Figure 03. A list of all the current installations of Windows XP will be displayed in the lower portion of the window. Use the arrow keys to select among them if you have more than one installation. Once the selection has been made, press the R key to begin the repair process. Pressing ESC will result in you losing all of your data files and settings and is akin to doing a reformat and clean install. You've been warned.

Fig. 03

Note that when you perform a repair of a current installation you will be asked to enter the Product Key that came with the CD. In essence you are installing a fresh copy of XP over the existing copy. While data and settings are not destroyed, any Service Packs will have to be reinstalled after the repair process has completed.

Setup continues and eventually the computer will reboot. Watch the onscreen prompts but do not press a key when the “Press any key to boot CD” message appears. Installation will continue, prompting you from time to time to supply some additional setup information. Feed the prompts with appropriate responses and eventually another reboot will occur, this time bringing you back into Windows XP.

Repairing a current installation is not a substitute for reformatting a drive and doing a clean installation. It may help clear up some problems with the current installation, but it will not restore an ailing system to like new condition and performance that a clean installation will provide.

Once the repair installtion completes you should be able to boot into Windows XP normally and enjoy your system with the old hard drive(s) installed.

A Final Word

There is a possibility you will have to reactivate your copy of Windows XP once the repair installation has completed. This is the direct result of the Windows Product Activation (WPA) scheme that Microsoft instituted with the release of XP. Truthfully, having to reactivate is no big deal. Microsoft makes the process virtually painless and it's fast, so if you do have to reactivate just make the toll free call and everything will be fine.

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